Transcript Module 1: Introduction

Chapter 4: Advanced SQL
Database System Concepts, 5th Ed.
©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use
Chapter 4: Advanced SQL
 SQL Data Types and Schemas
 Integrity Constraints
 Authorization
 Embedded SQL
 Dynamic SQL
 Functions and Procedural Constructs**
 Recursive Queries**
 Advanced SQL Features**
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Built-in Data Types in SQL
 date: Dates, containing a (4 digit) year, month and date

Example: date ‘2005-7-27’
 time: Time of day, in hours, minutes and seconds.

Example: time ‘09:00:30’
time ‘09:00:30.75’
 timestamp: date plus time of day

Example: timestamp ‘2005-7-27 09:00:30.75’
 interval: period of time

Example: interval ‘1’ day

Subtracting a date/time/timestamp value from another gives an
interval value

Interval values can be added to date/time/timestamp values
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Build-in Data Types in SQL (Cont.)
 Can extract values of individual fields from date/time/timestamp

Example: extract (year from r.starttime)
 Can cast string types to date/time/timestamp

Example: cast <string-valued-expression> as date

Example: cast <string-valued-expression> as time
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User-Defined Types
 create type construct in SQL creates user-defined type
create type Dollars as numeric (12,2) final
 create domain construct in SQL-92 creates user-defined domain
types
create domain person_name char(20) not null
 Types and domains are similar. Domains can have constraints, such
as not null, specified on them.
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Domain Constraints
 Domain constraints are the most elementary form of integrity
constraint. They test values inserted in the database, and test queries
to ensure that the comparisons make sense.
 New domains can be created from existing data types

Example: create domain Dollars numeric(12, 2)
create domain Pounds numeric(12,2)
 We cannot assign or compare a value of type Dollars to a value of
type Pounds.

However, we can convert type as below
(cast r.A as Pounds)
(Should also multiply by the dollar-to-pound conversion-rate)
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Large-Object Types
 Large objects (photos, videos, CAD files, etc.) are stored as a large
object:

blob: binary large object -- object is a large collection of
uninterpreted binary data (whose interpretation is left to an
application outside of the database system)

clob: character large object -- object is a large collection of
character data

When a query returns a large object, a pointer is returned rather
than the large object itself.
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Integrity Constraints
 Integrity constraints guard against accidental damage to the
database, by ensuring that authorized changes to the
database do not result in a loss of data consistency.

A checking account must have a balance greater than
$10,000.00

A salary of a bank employee must be at least $4.00 an
hour

A customer must have a (non-null) phone number
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Constraints on a Single Relation
 not null
 primary key
 unique
 check (P ), where P is a predicate
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Not Null Constraint
 Declare branch_name for branch is not null
branch_name char(15) not null
 Declare the domain Dollars to be not null
create domain Dollars numeric(12,2) not null
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The Unique Constraint
 unique ( A1, A2, …, Am)
 The unique specification states that the attributes
A1, A2, … Am
form a candidate key.
 Candidate keys are permitted to be null (in contrast to primary keys).
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The check clause
 check (P ), where P is a predicate
Example: Declare branch_name as the primary key for
branch and ensure that the values of assets are nonnegative.
create table branch
(branch_name char(15),
branch_city
char(30),
assets
integer,
primary key (branch_name),
check (assets >= 0))
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The check clause (Cont.)
 The check clause in SQL-92 permits domains to be restricted:

Use check clause to ensure that an hourly_wage domain allows
only values greater than a specified value.
create domain hourly_wage numeric(5,2)
constraint value_test check(value > = 4.00)

The domain has a constraint that ensures that the hourly_wage is
greater than 4.00

The clause constraint value_test is optional; useful to indicate
which constraint an update violated.
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Referential Integrity
 Ensures that a value that appears in one relation for a given set of
attributes also appears for a certain set of attributes in another relation.

Example: If “Perryridge” is a branch name appearing in one of the
tuples in the account relation, then there exists a tuple in the branch
relation for branch “Perryridge”.
 Primary and candidate keys and foreign keys can be specified as part of
the SQL create table statement:

The primary key clause lists attributes that comprise the primary key.

The unique key clause lists attributes that comprise a candidate key.

The foreign key clause lists the attributes that comprise the foreign
key and the name of the relation referenced by the foreign key. By
default, a foreign key references the primary key attributes of the
referenced table.
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Referential Integrity in SQL – Example
create table customer
(customer_name
char(20),
customer_street
char(30),
customer_city
char(30),
primary key (customer_name ))
create table branch
(branch_name
char(15),
branch_city
char(30),
assets
numeric(12,2),
primary key (branch_name ))
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Referential Integrity in SQL – Example (Cont.)
create table account
(account_number char(10),
branch_name
char(15),
balance
integer,
primary key (account_number),
foreign key (branch_name) references branch )
create table depositor
(customer_name char(20),
account_number char(10),
primary key (customer_name, account_number),
foreign key (account_number ) references account,
foreign key (customer_name ) references customer )
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Assertions
 An assertion is a predicate expressing a condition that we wish the
database always to satisfy.
 An assertion in SQL takes the form
create assertion <assertion-name> check <predicate>
 When an assertion is made, the system tests it for validity, and tests it
again on every update that may violate the assertion

This testing may introduce a significant amount of overhead;
hence assertions should be used with great care.
 Asserting
for all X, P(X)
is achieved in a round-about fashion using
not exists X such that not P(X)
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Assertion Example
 Every loan has at least one borrower who maintains an account with a
minimum balance or $1000.00
create assertion balance_constraint check
(not exists (
select *
from loan
where not exists (
select *
from borrower, depositor, account
where loan.loan_number = borrower.loan_number
and borrower.customer_name = depositor.customer_name
and depositor.account_number = account.account_number
and account.balance >= 1000)))
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Assertion Example
 The sum of all loan amounts for each branch must be less than the
sum of all account balances at the branch.
create assertion sum_constraint check
(not exists (select *
from branch
where (select sum(amount )
from loan
where loan.branch_name =
branch.branch_name )
>= (select sum (amount )
from account
where loan.branch_name =
branch.branch_name )))
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Authorization
Forms of authorization on parts of the database:
 Read - allows reading, but not modification of data.
 Insert - allows insertion of new data, but not modification of existing data.
 Update - allows modification, but not deletion of data.
 Delete - allows deletion of data.
Forms of authorization to modify the database schema (covered in Chapter 8):
 Index - allows creation and deletion of indices.
 Resources - allows creation of new relations.
 Alteration - allows addition or deletion of attributes in a relation.
 Drop - allows deletion of relations.
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Authorization Specification in SQL
 The grant statement is used to confer authorization
grant <privilege list>
on <relation name or view name> to <user list>
 <user list> is:

a user-id

public, which allows all valid users the privilege granted

A role (more on this in Chapter 8)
 Granting a privilege on a view does not imply granting any privileges
on the underlying relations.
 The grantor of the privilege must already hold the privilege on the
specified item (or be the database administrator).
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Privileges in SQL
 select: allows read access to relation,or the ability to query using
the view

Example: grant users U1, U2, and U3 select authorization on
the branch relation:
grant select on branch to U1, U2, U3
 insert: the ability to insert tuples
 update: the ability to update using the SQL update statement
 delete: the ability to delete tuples.
 all privileges: used as a short form for all the allowable privileges
 more in Chapter 8
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Revoking Authorization in SQL
 The revoke statement is used to revoke authorization.
revoke <privilege list>
on <relation name or view name> from <user list>
 Example:
revoke select on branch from U1, U2, U3
 All privileges that depend on the privilege being revoked are also
revoked.
 <privilege-list> may be all to revoke all privileges the revokee may
hold.
 If the same privilege was granted twice to the same user by different
grantees, the user may retain the privilege after the revocation.
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Embedded SQL
 The SQL standard defines embeddings of SQL in a variety of
programming languages such as C, Java, and Cobol.
 A language to which SQL queries are embedded is referred to as a host
language, and the SQL structures permitted in the host language
comprise embedded SQL.
 The basic form of these languages follows that of the System R
embedding of SQL into PL/I.
 EXEC SQL statement is used to identify embedded SQL request to the
preprocessor
EXEC SQL <embedded SQL statement > END_EXEC
Note: this varies by language (for example, the Java embedding uses
# SQL { …. }; )
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Example Query
 From within a host language, find the names and cities of
customers with more than the variable amount dollars in some
account.
 Specify the query in SQL and declare a cursor for it
EXEC SQL
declare c cursor for
select depositor.customer_name, customer_city
from depositor, customer, account
where depositor.customer_name = customer.customer_name
and depositor account_number = account.account_number
and account.balance > :amount
END_EXEC
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Embedded SQL (Cont.)
 The open statement causes the query to be evaluated
EXEC SQL open c END_EXEC
 The fetch statement causes the values of one tuple in the query result
to be placed on host language variables.
EXEC SQL fetch c into :cn, :cc END_EXEC
Repeated calls to fetch get successive tuples in the query result
 A variable called SQLSTATE in the SQL communication area (SQLCA)
gets set to ‘02000’ to indicate no more data is available
 The close statement causes the database system to delete the
temporary relation that holds the result of the query.
EXEC SQL close c END_EXEC
Note: above details vary with language. For example, the Java
embedding defines Java iterators to step through result tuples.
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Updates Through Cursors
 Can update tuples fetched by cursor by declaring that the cursor is for
update
declare c cursor for
select *
from account
where branch_name = ‘Perryridge’
for update
 To update tuple at the current location of cursor c
update account
set balance = balance + 100
where current of c
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Dynamic SQL
 Allows programs to construct and submit SQL queries at run time.
 Example of the use of dynamic SQL from within a C program.
char * sqlprog = “update account
set balance = balance * 1.05
where account_number = ?”
EXEC SQL prepare dynprog from :sqlprog;
char account [10] = “A-101”;
EXEC SQL execute dynprog using :account;
 The dynamic SQL program contains a ?, which is a place holder for a
value that is provided when the SQL program is executed.
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ODBC and JDBC
 API (application-program interface) for a program to interact with a
database server
 Application makes calls to

Connect with the database server

Send SQL commands to the database server

Fetch tuples of result one-by-one into program variables
 ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) works with C, C++, C#, and
Visual Basic
 JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) works with Java
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ODBC
 Open DataBase Connectivity(ODBC) standard

standard for application program to communicate with a database
server.

application program interface (API) to

open a connection with a database,

send queries and updates,

get back results.
 Applications such as GUI, spreadsheets, etc. can use ODBC
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ODBC (Cont.)
 Each database system supporting ODBC provides a "driver" library that
must be linked with the client program.
 When client program makes an ODBC API call, the code in the library
communicates with the server to carry out the requested action, and
fetch results.
 ODBC program first allocates an SQL environment, then a database
connection handle.
 Opens database connection using SQLConnect(). Parameters for
SQLConnect:

connection handle,

the server to which to connect

the user identifier,

password
 Must also specify types of arguments:

SQL_NTS denotes previous argument is a null-terminated string.
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ODBC Code
 int ODBCexample()
{
RETCODE error;
HENV env; /* environment */
HDBC conn; /* database connection */
SQLAllocEnv(&env);
SQLAllocConnect(env, &conn);
SQLConnect(conn, "aura.bell-labs.com", SQL_NTS, "avi", SQL_NTS,
"avipasswd", SQL_NTS);
{ …. Do actual work … }
SQLDisconnect(conn);
SQLFreeConnect(conn);
SQLFreeEnv(env);
}
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ODBC Code (Cont.)
 Program sends SQL commands to the database by using SQLExecDirect
 Result tuples are fetched using SQLFetch()
 SQLBindCol() binds C language variables to attributes of the query result

When a tuple is fetched, its attribute values are automatically stored in
corresponding C variables.

Arguments to SQLBindCol()

ODBC stmt variable, attribute position in query result

The type conversion from SQL to C.

The address of the variable.

For variable-length types like character arrays,
– The maximum length of the variable
– Location to store actual length when a tuple is fetched.
– Note: A negative value returned for the length field indicates null value
 Good programming requires checking results of every function call for
errors; we have omitted most checks for brevity.
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ODBC Code (Cont.)
 Main body of program
char branchname[80];
float balance;
int lenOut1, lenOut2;
HSTMT stmt;
SQLAllocStmt(conn, &stmt);
char * sqlquery = "select branch_name, sum (balance)
from account
group by branch_name";
error = SQLExecDirect(stmt, sqlquery, SQL_NTS);
if (error == SQL_SUCCESS) {
SQLBindCol(stmt, 1, SQL_C_CHAR, branchname , 80,
&lenOut1);
SQLBindCol(stmt, 2, SQL_C_FLOAT, &balance,
0,
&lenOut2);
while (SQLFetch(stmt) >= SQL_SUCCESS) {
printf (" %s %g\n", branchname, balance);
}
}
SQLFreeStmt(stmt, SQL_DROP);
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More ODBC Features
 Prepared Statement

SQL statement prepared: compiled at the database

Can have placeholders: E.g. insert into account values(?,?,?)

Repeatedly executed with actual values for the placeholders
 Metadata features

finding all the relations in the database and

finding the names and types of columns of a query result or a relation in
the database.
 By default, each SQL statement is treated as a separate transaction that is
committed automatically.

Can turn off automatic commit on a connection


SQLSetConnectOption(conn, SQL_AUTOCOMMIT, 0)}
transactions must then be committed or rolled back explicitly by

SQLTransact(conn, SQL_COMMIT) or

SQLTransact(conn, SQL_ROLLBACK)
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ODBC Conformance Levels
 Conformance levels specify subsets of the functionality defined by the
standard.

Core

Level 1 requires support for metadata querying

Level 2 requires ability to send and retrieve arrays of parameter
values and more detailed catalog information.
 SQL Call Level Interface (CLI) standard similar to ODBC interface, but
with some minor differences.
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JDBC
 JDBC is a Java API for communicating with database systems
supporting SQL
 JDBC supports a variety of features for querying and updating data, and
for retrieving query results
 JDBC also supports metadata retrieval, such as querying about
relations present in the database and the names and types of relation
attributes
 Model for communicating with the database:

Open a connection

Create a “statement” object

Execute queries using the Statement object to send queries and
fetch results

Exception mechanism to handle errors
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JDBC Code
public static void JDBCexample(String dbid, String userid, String passwd)
{
try {
Class.forName ("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(
"jdbc:oracle:thin:@aura.bell-labs.com:2000:bankdb", userid, passwd);
Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();
… Do Actual Work ….
stmt.close();
conn.close();
}
catch (SQLException sqle) {
System.out.println("SQLException : " + sqle);
}
}
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JDBC Code (Cont.)
 Update to database
try {
stmt.executeUpdate( "insert into account values
('A-9732', 'Perryridge', 1200)");
} catch (SQLException sqle) {
System.out.println("Could not insert tuple. " + sqle);
}
 Execute query and fetch and print results
ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery( "select branch_name,
avg(balance)
from account
group by branch_name");
while (rset.next()) {
System.out.println(
rset.getString("branch_name") + " " + rset.getFloat(2));
}
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JDBC Code Details
 Getting result fields:

rs.getString(“branchname”) and rs.getString(1) equivalent if
branchname is the first argument of select result.
 Dealing with Null values
int a = rs.getInt(“a”);
if (rs.wasNull()) Systems.out.println(“Got null value”);
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Procedural Extensions and Stored Procedures
 SQL provides a module language

Permits definition of procedures in SQL, with if-then-else statements,
for and while loops, etc.

more in Chapter 9
 Stored Procedures

Can store procedures in the database

then execute them using the call statement

permit external applications to operate on the database without
knowing about internal details
 These features are covered in Chapter 9 (Object Relational Databases)
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Functions and Procedures
 SQL:1999 supports functions and procedures

Functions/procedures can be written in SQL itself, or in an external
programming language

Functions are particularly useful with specialized data types such as
images and geometric objects


Example: functions to check if polygons overlap, or to compare
images for similarity
Some database systems support table-valued functions, which
can return a relation as a result
 SQL:1999 also supports a rich set of imperative constructs, including

Loops, if-then-else, assignment
 Many databases have proprietary procedural extensions to SQL that
differ from SQL:1999
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SQL Functions
 Define a function that, given the name of a customer, returns the count
of the number of accounts owned by the customer.
create function account_count (customer_name varchar(20))
returns integer
begin
declare a_count integer;
select count (* ) into a_count
from depositor
where depositor.customer_name = customer_name
return a_count;
end
 Find the name and address of each customer that has more than one
account.
select customer_name, customer_street, customer_city
from customer
where account_count (customer_name ) > 1
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Table Functions
 SQL:2003 added functions that return a relation as a result
 Example: Return all accounts owned by a given customer
create function accounts_of (customer_name char(20)
returns table (
account_number char(10),
branch_name char(15)
balance numeric(12,2))
return table
(select account_number, branch_name, balance
from account A
where exists (
select *
from depositor D
where D.customer_name = accounts_of.customer_name
and D.account_number = A.account_number ))
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Table Functions (cont’d)
 Usage
select *
from table (accounts_of (‘Smith’))
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SQL Procedures
 The author_count function could instead be written as procedure:
create procedure account_count_proc (in title varchar(20),
out a_count integer)
begin
select count(author) into a_count
from depositor
where depositor.customer_name = account_count_proc.customer_name
end
 Procedures can be invoked either from an SQL procedure or from
embedded SQL, using the call statement.
declare a_count integer;
call account_count_proc( ‘Smith’, a_count);
Procedures and functions can be invoked also from dynamic SQL
 SQL:1999 allows more than one function/procedure of the same name
(called name overloading), as long as the number of
arguments differ, or at least the types of the arguments differ
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Procedural Constructs
 Compound statement: begin … end,

May contain multiple SQL statements between begin and end.

Local variables can be declared within a compound statements
 While and repeat statements:
declare n integer default 0;
while n < 10 do
set n = n + 1
end while
repeat
set n = n – 1
until n = 0
end repeat
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Procedural Constructs (Cont.)
 For loop

Permits iteration over all results of a query

Example: find total of all balances at the Perryridge branch
declare n integer default 0;
for r as
select balance from account
where branch_name = ‘Perryridge’
do
set n = n + r.balance
end for
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Procedural Constructs (cont.)
 Conditional statements (if-then-else)
E.g. To find sum of balances for each of three categories of accounts
(with balance <1000, >=1000 and <5000, >= 5000)
if r.balance < 1000
then set l = l + r.balance
elseif r.balance < 5000
then set m = m + r.balance
else set h = h + r.balance
end if
 SQL:1999 also supports a case statement similar to C case statement
 Signaling of exception conditions, and declaring handlers for exceptions
declare out_of_stock condition
declare exit handler for out_of_stock
begin
…
.. signal out-of-stock
end
 The handler here is exit -- causes enclosing begin..end to be exited
 Other actions possible on exception
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External Language Functions/Procedures
 SQL:1999 permits the use of functions and procedures written in other
languages such as C or C++
 Declaring external language procedures and functions
create procedure account_count_proc(in customer_name varchar(20),
out count integer)
language C
external name ’ /usr/avi/bin/account_count_proc’
create function account_count(customer_name varchar(20))
returns integer
language C
external name ‘/usr/avi/bin/author_count’
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External Language Routines (Cont.)
 Benefits of external language functions/procedures:

more efficient for many operations, and more expressive power
 Drawbacks

Code to implement function may need to be loaded into database
system and executed in the database system’s address space

risk of accidental corruption of database structures

security risk, allowing users access to unauthorized data

There are alternatives, which give good security at the cost of
potentially worse performance

Direct execution in the database system’s space is used when
efficiency is more important than security
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Security with External Language Routines
 To deal with security problems

Use sandbox techniques


that is use a safe language like Java, which cannot be used to
access/damage other parts of the database code
Or, run external language functions/procedures in a separate
process, with no access to the database process’ memory

Parameters and results communicated via inter-process
communication
 Both have performance overheads
 Many database systems support both above approaches as well as
direct executing in database system address space
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Recursion in SQL
 SQL:1999 permits recursive view definition
 Example: find all employee-manager pairs, where the employee
reports to the manager directly or indirectly (that is manager’s
manager, manager’s manager’s manager, etc.)
with recursive empl (employee_name, manager_name ) as (
select employee_name, manager_name
from manager
union
select manager.employee_name, empl.manager_name
from manager, empl
where manager.manager_name = empl.employe_name)
select *
from empl
This example view, empl, is called the transitive closure of the
manager relation
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The Power of Recursion
 Recursive views make it possible to write queries, such as transitive
closure queries, that cannot be written without recursion or iteration.
 Intuition: Without recursion, a non-recursive non-iterative program
can perform only a fixed number of joins of manager with itself
This can give only a fixed number of levels of managers
 Given a program we can construct a database with a greater
number of levels of managers on which the program will not work
 Computing transitive closure
 The next slide shows a manager relation


Each step of the iterative process constructs an extended version of
empl from its recursive definition.
 The final result is called the fixed point of the recursive view
definition.
 Recursive views are required to be monotonic. That is, if we add tuples
to manger the view contains all of the tuples it contained before, plus
possibly more
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Example of Fixed-Point Computation
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Advanced SQL Features**
 Create a table with the same schema as an existing table:
create table temp_account like account
 SQL:2003 allows subqueries to occur anywhere a value is required
provided the subquery returns only one value. This applies to updates as
well
 SQL:2003 allows subqueries in the from clause to access attributes of
other relations in the from clause using the lateral construct:
select C.customer_name, num_accounts
from customer C,
lateral (select count(*)
from account A
where A.customer_name = C.customer_name )
as this_customer (num_accounts )
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Advanced SQL Features (cont’d)
 Merge construct allows batch processing of updates.
 Example: relation funds_received (account_number, amount ) has
batch of deposits to be added to the proper account in the account
relation
merge into account as A
using (select *
from funds_received as F )
on (A.account_number = F.account_number )
when matched then
update set balance = balance + F.amount
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End of Chapter
Database System Concepts, 5th Ed.
©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
See www.db-book.com for conditions on re-use